Police Seek Mother Of Dropped-off Baby Boy

January 29, 2006|By Brian Haas Staff Writer

A newborn baby boy dropped off Saturday at a Broward County firehouse has sparked an investigation into exactly who abandoned the child.

Three women and one man dropped off the boy about 11:30 a.m. at the Broward Sheriff's Office Fire Rescue Station 17 in West Park, said Sam Aloi, a Fire Rescue employee. Aloi, who also works as a coordinator for A Safe Haven for Newborns, which takes in abandoned infants, said the boy was wearing a tiny baseball outfit and wrapped in a blue blanket.

The boy was the first in the state to be rescued by the group this year, though it is unclear if the child will be put up for adoption. Fire officials took him to the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood.

"The baby is doing fine," Aloi said.

But detectives are investigating the story behind the abandonment of the child.

One woman claims another woman asked her to hold on to her child for a few minutes Friday night or Saturday morning at a bus station on Federal Highway at Southeast 17th Street, said Detective Katherine Collins, spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. The "mother" left and never returned, Collins said, and the woman left holding the baby later dropped it off at the fire station.

"We've received some discrepancies in the story, and we're trying to figure out how much is accurate," Collins said. "And there is some question as to who the mother is."

Detectives are trying to determine if a crime has been committed in the abandonment of the child.

Under the "safe haven" law passed in 2000, mothers are allowed to drop an unwanted baby off at fire stations, hospitals and other emergency medical facilities without legal repercussions. The child must be three days old or younger. Typically, a mother is given 30 days to change her mind before the child is put up for adoption.

But it is unclear what will happen to the boy abandoned on Saturday, or his mother.

"If the case is that they did it unauthorized, then the mother will get the baby back," said Nick Silverio, founder of the nonprofit Gloria M. Silverio Foundation, which runs A Safe Haven for Newborns.

The child will be known as Gabriel, Silverio said, a name associated with an angel seen in several religions as God's messenger.

"Gabriel was real news to the world," Silverio said.

Brian Haas can be reached at bhaas@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4597.

BABY HAVEN

A Safe Haven for Newborns has a 24-hour, emergency hotline at 877-767-2229 with operators who speak English, Spanish and Creole. The Web site is www.asafehavenfornewborns.com